Talking Hands and the Answer Swan

Ella has recently been doing what started as an impromptu shadow skit the other week, but which has become a regular feature of our bedtime routine: Talking Hands.

We do it in my bedroom: She turns off all of the lights and then turns on just the tiny reading lamp that David uses when I'm asleep. She projects that onto the wall and then uses her hands as shadow puppets: the Talking Hand family! The mom, the big brother, the little sister, and two dogs, Pinky and Ringo. You'd think that her skits would be like other kids of skits that kids make up: You know, the kind for which you paste on a smile while you're wincing inside. But actually, Ella is hysterical! I think she takes a page from Jim Henson in her characterizations. The brother is sneaky and always getting into trouble by locking his sister in the closet and lying to his mother about it, the little sister is by no means beleaguered; she takes the locking up with good humor and a healthy dose of revenge, and she loves to train the dogs. What's funniest is when Mom Hand finds out about the brother's nightly perfidy: Ella brings the mom hand closer to the light source so she is huge, and looms over the brother in size as the brother glumly accepts his fate.

I think this might have gotten started because of the Birthday of the Day, oddly enough. We review the Birthday of the Day in the morning at the breakfast table, and at dinner we see how much they remember (for every correct answer, they get a nickel). Well, when we ask a question at dinner (Question: What did Hank Williams die of? Answer: Drugs and alcohol), in the past the kids have almost fallen over themselves waving their hands wildly in the "pick me, pick me" manner of schoolkids. So we started trying to get them to be a little more graceful with the admonition to "Raise your hand like a swan."

Ella started doing complying, but with a twist: When she knows the answer, she makes a "swan" shape with her hand and forearm and starts gliding it around, opening and closing the beak. We've taking to calling her "Answer Swan" at these moments. (Madison mostly still forgets to be calm...we've taken to calling her "Answer Rocket" as her hand shoots up into the air.) Anyway, the Answer Swan looks a lot like the Talking Hand family that has now become a new tradition in our house during Comedy Hour...um...I mean bedtime.